There came to [Boise] an array of
defense witnesses full of health and spirits,
brawny, frank-eyed men and cheerful, resolute women.
-John R. McMahon
Hellraisers Journal, Sunday February 9, 1908
Remembering the Haywood Trial: Witnesses for the Defense
From Wilshire’s Magazine of August 1907:
While reviewing the coverage of the Haywood Trial by Wilshire’s Magazine, we came across a particularly compelling photograph of the many witnesses who came to Boise in order to testify on behalf of Big Bill Haywood.
The photograph was from an article by John R. McMahon entitled “Story of the Famous Trial” wherein he had this to say about the witness:
In refreshing contrast to the State’s array of official scamps, deputy sheriffs, policemen, clerks, et al., there came to town an array of defense witnesses full of health and spirits, brawny, frank-eyed men and cheerful, resolute women. They did not have to be dragooned into comming; they rejoiced that they could be of service to their imprisoned comrades; their faces beamed with the hope and inspiration of a new day for the united workers of the land. They greeted one another affectionately and with crushing hand grips. It seemed that all the known and unknown veterans of the labor war of Colorado were gathered together. Nearly every man had been causelessly persecuted, jailed, bullpenned, deported, shot at or assaulted by mine owners’ thugs; every woman had been insulted, threatened, arrested or starved out for the crime of sheltering the homeless and giving food to the hungry. If this is the stuff that the western working class is made of, we need have never a fear. These people thrive on persecution.
